| formal language | |
| —n | |
| 1. | a language designed for use in situations in which natural language is unsuitable, as for example in mathematics, logic, or computer programming. The symbols and formulas of such languages stand in precisely specified syntactic and semantic relations to one another |
| 2. | logic a logistic system for which an interpretation is provided: distinguished from formal calculus in that the semantics enable it to be regarded as about some subject matter |
| Main Entry: | formal language1 |
| Part of Speech: | n |
| Definition: | any language that is ceremonial or using a "high" register or hard words, such as a sermon, lecture, or poetry |
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
| a gadget; dingus; thingumbob. |
| Main Entry: | formal language2 |
| Part of Speech: | n |
| Definition: | any language of symbols and formulas developed for systems which cannot work with natural language, such as computer programming and mathematics |